


no one's here to sleep

by karnsteins



Category: The Outsiders - All Media Types
Genre: Dallas-centric, Gen, Missing Scene, everyone else is mentioned - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-12
Updated: 2020-09-12
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:53:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26419030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/karnsteins/pseuds/karnsteins
Summary: Dallas, after jail. Before Soda comes looking for Pony.
Relationships: Johnny Cade & Dallas Winston, Johnny Cade & Ponyboy Curtis, Ponyboy Curtis & Dallas Winston
Comments: 3
Kudos: 24





	no one's here to sleep

The bed at Buck's place isn't that comfortable. It never has been. For the past three days, ever since he'd told Johnny and Ponyboy to leave, ever since he'd denied to both the police and Darry Curtis that he knew anything, it's been particularly uncomfortable in a way Dallas can't ignore anymore. 

He tosses and turns in the night. Normally, the noise from the bar below, he could filter it out. New York had been ten times as worse, and that corny music was usually something he could easily disregard. 

Not now. Tonight in particular, it feels like there was nothing he could do except stare up at the ceiling, nerves run ragged and raw from the music below, from a sense of nerves in his stomach he hadn't felt in years occupying his mind. Some guy was dead, Johnny and Ponyboy were hiding, and everything had been thrown right off of it's axis. Dally was left to observe it all, keeping his mouth shut the entire time, like he knew how. 

His hands went up to light another cigarette, just to give his hands something to do. 

Their faces had begged him for information, for relief. For a moment, he'd been concerned (not afraid, no, he wouldn't admit that to himself) that Darry would belt him right across the face for his denial that he knew anything was wrong. Soda had gone to pieces almost immediately, terrified for his kid brother. Steve had looked stormy, and Two-Bit had begged and begged. 

As much as Dally cared for them, as much as he knew that they needed some relief, he kept the information to himself. Darry and Soda would search the hills themselves if they knew, and drag Steve and Two-Bit with them. The situation would escalate, get worse and Dally knew better than to let that happen. 

Did it tug at him? Did it make him feel nervous? A little bit. He would admit that to himself, that while he wasn't bothered by the loss of one shitty Soc who had thought it was a fun sport to whoop on two greaser kids who'd been sleeping in a lot, he _was_ bothered by the reaction this was setting off. Socs were getting more violent as a response, Tim had already begun putting heads together with other gangs. People were baying for blood, and the two kids in the gang, the two least likely to go out and harm anyone else on purpose were wrapped up in all this, unfairly. 

A cruel smirk curls on his lips thinking about it. If it was anyone else, it would have been almost funny. Much more deserved. 

And it hadn't been them. It had been Johnny, who already was a nervous wreck, and Ponyboy whose head was always in the clouds. Nothing about this was fair, and that tore at Dallas more than anything else. 

Shit was always raining on the heads of those who didn't deserve it. 

He takes a drag of his cigarette, tries to quell his own thoughts. 

When he tries though, his eyelids offer images he doesn't want to think about: that Soc stabbing Johnny instead, gutting him right there in the lot. Ponyboy floating in the fountain, lifeless and bloated from the water in his lungs. 

He forces his eyes open, jerking awake with a grunt. 

The music seems to crest below him, and bitterly, Dallas resigns himself to the fact that no, he won't be sleeping tonight.

**Author's Note:**

> bastille stays winning. inspired by their song with naughtyboy, no one's here to sleep. might have a follow up with the soda confrontation. had to repost bc forgot to date the draft correctly. come kudo, comment, and/or yell at me on tumblr @traumapeaks!


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